Walking Backwards

Sorry for the temporary respite from the computer. It seems like when I have a lot going on to write about, I don't have the time or motivation in the evenings to write. This last half-week thing has been busy. I think father's day was this last weekend, right? Other things in the house/life have been exploding or falling apart. The air-conditioning in my car started making this insane high-pitched buzzing sound like it wanted to jump through the dashboard and attack me. It's fine now, apparently. It just wanted me to know who is in charge around here. Toddler melodrama, family insanity, etc.

So, father's day. Saturday, we drove down to San Antonio and took my dad out to eat as his father's day surprise. I am stepping back on giving stuff to my dad since he is currently on the same psycho, decluttering trip that we are on. We went to this fabulous Greek restaurant and I had so much hummus and so many dolmas that lemon oil was coming out of my pores. Joe had chicken souvalke (sp?) for the first time ever and really enjoyed it and Nico chowed an entire grilled cheese pita and a basket of fries. My dad ordered the fish and couldn't even finish the whole thing; Nicholas probably could have. After lunch we headed for some antique consignment furniture store. I like looking at antiques with my dad, because together we will never buy anything. We are both good at admiring the better points of antique furniture, but just on the cusp of being convinced to buy things, the other will point out the pieces disadvantages or shortcomings. An example:

me: "Oooooooo . . . check out this kitchen cabinet do-dad"

dad: "Hey, that would look nice in your kitchen"

me: "I know, and I want to go for the French Country look when I get around to painting."

dad: "Well, this is a great example and in the colors that you wanted"

me: "Exactly and it's about the right size"

dad: "But you know, it's stapled together instead of nailed"

me: "Yeah, I noticed that. You think it would be easy to make one?"

dad: "Probably and then you can take the cross pieces off of these mesh doors."

Nothing is perfect for my dad in the store. It is always a canvas to be improved upon. He and I are supposed to hit some flea markets and an antique hardware store next month. I can't wait. Joe, on the other hand, should never be taken into a place with furniture that expensive. First, you have to understand that normally, my husband will not buy anything at all that takes up space or costs more than his skewed 1950s economic sense will allow. However, he does have a weak spot for fancy, high-end stuff. That is why he was trying to convince me to buy a three-thousand dollar Chinese table and chairs set. It was beautiful, but I think I'll keep our already-paid-for stuff.

Joe didn't get anything for father's day, but some "special time" and pampering. We had huge errands to run in the morning, but we had fun doing them. In the morning we went to a local coffee house for the morning kid's show and picked up some meals that my local parenting group was delivering to another mama who is recovering from back surgery. The we drove across town to drop the meals and take Joe to mega-computer-super-store so he could be a little kid again. Later, we rented movies and I made lasagna for dinner. Nicholas was pretty good all day long and spent a lot of cuddle time on the couch. A fairly good day all-in-all.

Monday I had to catch up with cleaning from the weekend, but my sling came in and made up for the six loads of laundry I had to do. Nicholas and I have already made the neighborhood rounds with it and are ready to go public, I think. I might convince the husband to take a picture of us, but with the late nights I have been having, I don't find myself photogenic enough yet.

The rest of the week is kind of blurry. I do vaguely remember telling my brother, housemate of three years now, that he needs to be a big boy and leave the nest. He is supposed to be out by the middle of November (it's so far out because he is going to be in Europe for three of those months). I'll be sad and happy to see him go. Nicholas also has been a source of conflict. We were at the store a few days ago, who knows when, when he picked up a foam water float and used it like a gun. Complete with sound effects and pointed at other hapless customers. This must be ingrained into little boys because we don't have anything resembling a gun in the house and I don't think the feature guns on Blue's Clues. There is no telling where this came from, but it was certainly unexpected.

I think I've blathered on long enough. Now to surf the internet and peek into other lives.